Pakistani Kalay Chanay in an Instant Pot

It is Day 3 of Fasting guys. For those of you who are not familiar with the concept, in the month of Ramadan, a month in the lunar Muslim calendar, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. In Canada that means a whopping 17 hour fast. No food, no water. For those of you familiar with fasts and keeping them, I hope yours are going well. This is my first year of Ramzan in a long time where both kids are in school and I have decided to take advantage of that to alter my regular schedule to include a nap. It is going a long way to compensate for the sleep I lose at night when I wake up for Sehri/Suhoor (the predawn meal). Fingers crossed that the rest of the fasts go as these have.

Speaking of changes, I have also recently started really enjoying Kalay Chanay, a black chickpea variety readily available in South Asian stores. Kalay Chanay + Dahi Baray are pretty much my dream combo and if I have those two then I am set. I like them for lunch as much as for breaking my fast. They have a deeper flavour than regular chickpeas and the texture is also such that they retain their shape and never become mushy.

They do take AGES to cook though which is why they are a natural fit for an Instant Pot or a pressure cooker. I soak mine overnight out of habit. If you can’t soak for a few hours and add eight minutes extra of time.